secret of mana+

Decided once again enjoy this piece of marvelous tunes of magnificient earful bliss and started wondering, what tracks exactly has been arragend on this (second) best arrange album ever. Can't remember if there's been a discussion about this and nice track breakdown.

I used to love this album and listen to it day and night in the late 90s. But for some reason, its grown completely off me. Don't know why, but when I listen to it nowadays (which almost never happens), it feels very disjointed and I never can make it all the way to the end.

I agree with you on this. Fantastic CD start to finish with beautiful soundscapes, great melodies, and enough variety to sustain a long playtime. It's up there with Soukaigi as Kikuta's best work in my opinion. I'm not the biggest fan of the Seiken Densetsu 2 or 3 soundtracks so I'd be interested in people correlated sections to originals. I spotted the obvious ones though.

Is it bad that when I hear Kikuta's name now all I can think of is cartoon titties?

Wait, what...?

He's done a lot of Hentai since I've been interested in him. I started checking out his work post-Koudelka and I know he's done a decent number of H games since then.

Oh, yes! Forgot about that. Although I consider Kikuta one of my all-time favourite VGM composers on the strength of Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3 and Soukaigi alone, I basically like nothing he's done after Koudelka in 1999 (and on that score I only really like the battle themes). So I usually forget about his 2000s stuff when discussing him.

Although I consider Kikuta one of my all-time favourite VGM composers on the strength of Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3 and Soukaigi alone, I basically like nothing he's done after Koudelka in 1999 (and on that score I only really like the battle themes). So I usually forget about his 2000s stuff when discussing him.

Since the audio budget for Soukaigi was $300,000 all someone would have to do is give him that same amount and bingo we'll all get another masterpiece.

Since the audio budget for Soukaigi was $300,000 all someone would have to do is give him that same amount and bingo we'll all get another masterpiece.

I'm not sure about that. What I liked about Soukaigi was mainly the incredibly catchy melodies, and you don't need a huge budget for that. I consider Seiken 2 a greater masterpiece than Soukaigi, even though the synth is crap in comparison. None of Kikuta's work during this decade has managed to captivate me, and I doubt it would have even if it had had Soukaigi's budget.

Also, $300,000 for audio alone? Crazy. I wonder if the game itself even brought in enough money to justify that price tag (from what I've heard it flopped hard in Japan).

Also, $300,000 for audio alone? Crazy. I wonder if the game itself even brought in enough money to justify that price tag (from what I've heard it flopped hard in Japan).

"It was currently the height of the bubble economy, and the music budget allotted for the project was an extravagant 30 million yen. The improved sound card of the Sony Playstation would also allow the composer to create a score with live, streaming music. Naturally, it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Naturally, the game was a flop yes, but at least we got a damn fine album out of it.

EDIT: Oh, it's just Sora no Iro Mizu no Iro. This was released a couple years back as a preorder bonus for the (h-)game, but I guess this is the retail version.

Yeah, seems that Kikuta is releasing soundtracks for Ni~duma wa Sailor Fuku ~My Darling is the Teacher in Charge~ and Sakura Relaxation also, if his site is to be believed. Atleast now I don't have to hunt for those preorder osts.

Alcahest wrote:

According to the first print CD "Index" marks (dunno if reprints have the embedded info too)

Ah, forgot all about those, I probably still have those index marks saved somewhere.

I love this CD. I remember my girlfriend in high school got it for me for Christmas when I was a senior. I was so shocked that she actually gave me a VGM cd and a good one at that. I used to fall asleep listening to this one often. Nothing else quite like it...